Armed with supreme model-making skills - and a book based on their project - they were named the winners out of 48 teams in their category.

And judges were so impressed, they have now invited the St Peter’s team to the international finals in either Denmark or Bath later this year.

Pupils at St Peter's C of E primary school, Brotton, who have won a Lego competition (Image: Evening Gazette)

First Lego League teams research a real-world problem such as food safety, recycling or energy. They must also design and build a robot, using Lego Mindstorms technology, and compete on a table-top playing field.

This year’s First Lego League topic was “animal allies” - and the St Peter’s kids looked underground for their inspiration, even producing a book - “Oh No!” - which follows the adventures of Herman the worm, who encounters problems with different animals on each page but eventually resolves them.

Pupils at St Peter's C of E primary school, Brotton, who have won a Lego competition (Image: Evening Gazette)

Y6 teacher Anthony Ormerod said: “The children have given up play times and have hardly seen the school yard.